Posted on April 7, 2017 by Elizabeth A. Harris in The New York Times The New York Times, By Elizabeth A. Harris Preston Roberson-Charles is studying economics at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens. Well spoken and charming, he wears gray Warby Parker glasses and keeps his jeans fashionably rolled at the ankle. Not exactly the stereotype of a homeless person. But for two years, until last December, he lived in New York City’s shelter system, hostels and on friends’ couches. He agreed to revisit the experience with a reporter and photographer, to share the grim reality for thousands of homeless students across the country. “Being homeless, it’s like you’re in limbo,” said Mr. Roberson-Charles, now 29. “You’re in this purgatory where you’re falling in and out of society. You spend a lot of time by yourself when you’re homeless because you get tired of explaining yourself to people.”
